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The Engaging Effect of Exemplars: How an Emotional Reaction Towards Similar People Sparks Political Participation

Mon, May 29, 14:00 to 15:15, Hilton San Diego Bayfront, Floor: 2, Indigo Ballroom H

Abstract

Journalists often use ordinary people as exemplars in their news stories to make their reports more interesting and understandable for the audience. This journalistic practice has often been discussed as a potential democratic problem because of its effects on perceptions of and attitudes towards political issues. Taking exemplification theory as our starting point and drawing on research from decision-making literature, we add to this discussion by examining how exemplars in news reports affect people’s political participation. Using an experimental design we randomly exposed respondents to a news report with or without exemplars or no news report at all. We found that for respondents who were similar to the exemplars, exposure to a news report with exemplars triggered empathy and increased political participation. For dissimilar respondents, exposure to a news report with exemplars decreased their empathy, which in turn decreased their political participation.

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